Objective To determine the frequency and nature of childhood injuries and to explore the risk factors for such injuries in low-income countries by using emergency department (ED) surveillance data. Methods This pilot study represents the initial phase of a multi-country global childhood unintentional injury surveillance (GCUIS) project and was based on a sequential sample of children < 11 years of age of either gender who presented to selected EDs in Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt and Pakistan over a 3-4 month period, which varied for each site, in 2007. Findings Of 1559 injured children across all sites, 1010 (65%) were male; 941 (60%) were aged ³ 5 years, 32 (2%) were < 1 year old. Injuries were especially frequent (34%) during the morning hours. They occurred in and around the home in 56% of the cases, outside while children played in 63% and during trips in 11%. Of all the injuries observed, 913 (56%) involved falls; 350 (22%), road traffic injuries; 210 (13%), burns; 66 (4%), poisoning; and 20 (1%), near drowning or drowning. Falls occurred most often from stairs or ladders; road traffic injuries most often involved pedestrians; the majority of burns were from hot liquids; poisonings typically involved medicines, and most drowning occurred in the home. The mean injury severity score was highest for near drowning or drowning (11), followed closely by road traffic injuries (10). There were 6 deaths, of which 2 resulted from drowning, 2 from falls and 2 from road traffic injuries. Conclusion Hospitals in low-income countries bear a substantial burden of childhood injuries, and systematic surveillance is required to identify the epidemiological distribution of such injuries and understand their risk factors. Methodological standardization for surveillance across countries makes it possible to draw international comparisons and identify common issues.Une traduction en français de ce résumé figure à la fin de l'article. Al final del artículo se facilita una traducción al español. ‫املقالة.‬ ‫لهذه‬ ‫الكامل‬ ‫النص‬ ‫نهاية‬ ‫يف‬ ‫الخالصة‬ ‫لهذه‬ ‫العربية‬ ‫الرتجمة‬

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global public health and gender problem, especially in low-income countries. The study focused on verbal abuse, physical abuse and abuse by restricting food provision to wives by their husbands by victim and perpetrator characteristics, emphasizing the socioeconomic context of rural Bangladesh. Using a cross-sectional household survey of 4411 randomly selected married women of reproductive age, the study found that a majority of the respondents are exposed to verbal abuse (79%), while 41% are exposed to physical abuse. A small proportion (5%) of the women had suffered food-related abuse. Risk factors observed were age of the wife, illiteracy (of both victims and perpetrators), alcohol misuse, dowry management, husband's monetary greed involving parents-in-law, and wife's suspicions concerning husband's extramarital affairs. Well-established risk factors for wife abuse, along with dowry and husband's monetary greed, have a relatively high prevalence in rural Bangladesh.

Objective: To determine the epidemiology of child drowning in order to propose possible interventions for Bangladesh and other similar low-income countries. Design: Population-based cross-sectional study. Setting: Rural and urban communities in Bangladesh. Subjects: About 352 000 children 0-17 years were selected from over 171 000 households, using multistage cluster sampling. Main outcome measures: Incidence of fatal drowning. Results: Drowning was the leading cause of death (28.6 per 100 000 child-years) in children aged 1-17 years. The highest incidence (86.3 per 100 000 child-years) was in children aged 1-4 years. More than two-thirds of drownings occurred in ponds and ditches. Most drownings (85%) happened in daylight. In more than one-third of cases of drowning, the child was alone. In the two-thirds of cases in which the child was accompanied, almost half were with children who were 10 years or below. Only 7% of drowned children over 4 years of age knew how to swim. Conclusions: Drowning is a major cause of childhood mortality in Bangladesh. Creating drowning-safe homes, improving supervision of children, modifying the environment, and developing water safety skills for children and the community may be effective interventions for drowning prevention.

This study set out to explore the epidemiology of suicide in Bangladesh. A cross-sectional study was carried out during 2003 (January to December). This encompassed a population of 819,429 of all age-groups and sexes. Data was collected by face-to-face interviews at a household level. Suicide was found to be the leading cause of death by injury in the age group of 10-19 years. Adolescent females (10-19 year age group) were found to be the most vulnerable. Overall, the suicide rate was 7.3 (95% CI 5.6-9.5) per 100,000 per year and the highest rate was found in the age group of 60+ years. The rate of suicide was found to be 17-fold higher (95% CI 5.36-54.64) in the rural population, compared to urban rates. Adolescent suicide rate in rural areas was 20.1 (95% CI 12.6-31.7) per 100,000. The rate was 17.7 (95% CI 8.6-34.9) and 22.7(95% CI 12-42) among males and females respectively. Poisoning was found as the most frequent method of suicide. The majority of the suicide victims were found to be very poor and illiterate. Suicide is a major public health problem in Bangladesh. Age, place of residence, economic status and literacy were the major associating factors related to suicide. Adolescents, elderly and those residing in rural regions were the most vulnerable groups.

In terms of mortality, morbidity and disability, burns are emerging as a major child health problem in Bangladesh. This trend is similar to many other developing countries. To develop effective burn prevention programmes, information on its magnitude and determinants is necessary. The purpose of this study was to document the magnitude and determinant of childhood burns in Bangladesh, based on a population-based survey which was conducted between January and December 2003. Nationally representative data was collected from 171,366 rural and urban households, comprising of a total population of 819,429. To facilitate data collection, face-to-face interviews were conducted. The rate of non-fatal burn among children under 18 years of age was calculated as 288.1 per 100,000 children-year. The highest incidence (782.1/100,000 children-year) was found among the 1-4 years age group. About 46% of non-fatal burn injuries occurred between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. The incidence of childhood burn was found to be more than four times higher in rural children than urban children. Ninety percent (90%) of the childhood burns occurred at homes and the kitchen was the most common place. The rate of disability due to burn was 5.7 per 100,000 children per year. The rate of fatal burn was 0.6 per 100,000 per year among all children. The study findings confirmed that childhood burn was a major childhood illness in Bangladesh. An urgent and appropriate prevention programme is required to prevent these unwanted morbidities, disabilities and deaths due to burn.